Children should be spanked on their bare bottom. The newest generation of kids are NOT being spanked, and guess what? They are the LEAST intelligent and LEAST considerate batch of kids the world has ever known.

(1a) Children who are spanked do not learn how to behave in accordance with their parents' demands, but rather how to behave when a present threat is around them. An article from Psychology Today has a print on this, where they explain the negative impacts on a child who is spanked. The following quote really outlines this, "spanking does not convey positive guidance on how to behave in a particular situation, only how not to behave if a threat of punishment is at hand."

When a child is meant to behave "properly" through the discipline of their parents, they learn only because of the consequences present. If their parents would spank them for doing something wrong, but not other people around them, the method of spanking them to begin with is inherently counter-intuitive; it provides little-to-no difference in the behavioral patterns of children to begin with.

Spanking, however, may also confuse a child. Children tend to be incapable of intellectually rationalizing with themselves, and when they internalize something, it almost always winds up in self-deprecation. This may disorient a child or divert their mind's focus away from the intended lesson behind their parent spanking them. Again, the same article from Psychology Today explains this, "they internalize what they practice and what their family practices."

(2) Spanking children can often lead to mental health disorders or problems in the long-run.

(2a) A different article from Psychology Today examined the direct effects of a parent's physical coercion against their kid on the brain. Not only can it create mental health problems (e.g depression, self-loathing), but it can also actually hinder the brain's ability to learn from past mistakes or errors. "Spanking gets quick results, but it doesn't reduce the undesired behavior. In addition to detrimental physiological effects, it may also inflict lasting emotional damage that inhibits the learning process." A child's ability to learn may actually be deteriorated entirely when they are hit; solely because they have no motive for ceasing their intolerable behavior, they are just being coerced into obeying their parents' demands.

(2b) An article from the American Academy of Pediatrics describes how pediatricians in both Canada and America did extensive scientific studies on the effects of corporal punishment (physical discipline) on children. What they found was that anywhere between 2 and 7 percent of mental health disorders (i.e mood and anxiety-related) were linked to physical discipline, "Researchers found 2 percent to 7 percent of mental disorders were attributable to physical punishment."

(3) Spanking of children is normally the product of a parent's traumatic past.

(3a) Parents who spank their children often had to endure similar pains, struggles, etc. when they were younger; therefore making it essentially a cycle of hereditary abuse. There are numerous examples of this, but Psychology Today describes it in their article 'How Spanking Harms The Brain' (which I referred to earlier). The article says, "when adults do not understand the connections between their previous experiences of injury and those they actively repeat in the present, they perpetuate a destructive cycle and inflict their own suffering on their offspring." If the parents were disciplined this way, it likely gave them trauma, but they exert the same means of discipline on their children, and it is just as damaging to them as it was to the parents when they were growing up.

(3b) A narrative song from 'The Wall', an album by the band Pink Floyd, replicates this struggle easily; Roger Waters, the former lead and singer of the band, describes his struggle as a child growing up in a time in England where teachers were legally allowed to assault their students to engrave obedience into their minds. However, these teachers often had also dealt with their own physical stresses at home with their spouses. The song might appear fictitious at first, but it is based on a real world experience suffered by many students - even today, in many under-developed countries.

In the song, there are certain lyrics which should alarm the consumer. "...by pouring their derision upon anything we did, exposing every weakness however carefully hidden by the kids," is the first. The lyric describes that teachers often sought to punish students specifically to exploit their vulnerabilities. This was likely the product of externalizing an internal struggle, and therefore the product of hereditary punishment (i.e a food chain of corporal punishment). Another example is the following, "but in the the town it was well known when they got home at night their fat and psychopathic wives would thrash them within inches of their lives." This also plays upon the same idea. The teachers were physically abused by someone, and therefore took it out on someone who was vulnerable to them. This essentially creates a domino-like effect or even a food web within society of enforced dominance by superiors in a given environment through corporal punishment.

Pro has forfeited this round, extending arguments and moving on to rebuttals.

"The newest generation of kids are NOT being spanked, and guess what? They are the LEAST intelligent and LEAST considerate batch of kids the world has ever known."

Well, is there any correspondence between these two concepts? Until you have proven that, I don't believe this claim.

I would propose that narcissism in this country is on the rise because of a few different components of our society, none of which are routed in discipline. Consider 'nature v. nurture' psychology here.

1. Students are often encouraged to behave a certain way in order to appease society; whether they adapt a taste in music, a liking for a drug substance, or a certain clothing style.

2. Kids often adapt to a certain condition or state of mind from an outside source, therefore it is logical to assume that if they are bratty or entitled, they picked up a concept of ego or high self-esteem based on society's reaction to their presence. This often happens when wicked attractive people are aware of how attractive they are, which inflates their ego, simply because they are hunted for by people who desire them as a partner.